Frieze is the latest art business to expand to the Gulf, revealing today it will launch an Abu Dhabi edition, replacing the existing fair Abu Dhabi Art. The first edition of Frieze Abu Dhabi, held November 2026, is the result of a deal struck between the fair and publishing brand and the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT). A spokesperson for Frieze declines to comment on the financial terms of the partnership.
The Abu Dhabi fair will be Frieze’s first show in the Middle East and eighth in total: the brand organises two editions in London, and one each in Seoul, New York and Los Angeles, as well as the Armory Show and Expo Chicago.
Meanwhile, Frieze’s chief rival, Art Basel, will launch its own Middle East fair this February in Doha, Qatar. Rumours circulated prior to the announcement that Art Basel would in fact launch in Abu Dhabi; a spokesperson for Frieze declines to comment as to whether Frieze impacted this plan.
News of the Abu Dhabi venture comes the same week as the Hollywood tycoon Ari Emanuel has finalised a major deal, first announced in May, to buy Frieze, along with a number of sporting and live events, from Endeavour, the entertainment company he once led. Emanuel did so via his new holding company, Mari, for which he has raised $2bn in equity. Among the investors in Mari is IMI, an Abu Dhabi-based media group. Notably, the Qatar Investment Authority, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, has also invested in Mari.
“Live events and experiences have never been more powerful,” Emanuel said in a statement when the deal was finalised.” It is not yet known whether the Abu Dhabi deal will impact the brand’s publishing business, under which it produces the leading contemporary art magazine Frieze.
This is not the first time Emanuel has struck a deal in Abu Dhabi. Under his lead, Endeavor has had longstanding financial ties to the emirate via Mubadala, the sovereign wealth fund run by the influential figure Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who was described in a 2021 New Yorker article as a “longtime friend of Emanuel”. In 2016, Mubadala financially supported Endeavor when it acquired the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) for $4.2bn, and UFC began holding events on Yas Island, which is being developed as the entertainment island within Abu Dhabi.
The Mari deal also includes the acquisition of Mubadala offerings such as the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, a women’s tennis tournament.
The collaboration with DCT comes with family ties. Khaldoon Al Mubarak is the older brother of Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, who as chairman of DCT already oversees many of the entertainment projects.
In a statement, Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak said Frieze Abu Dhabi “was rooted in the achievements of Abu Dhabi Art and will carry them onto the global stage, reinforcing the emirate’s position as a cultural capital while offering Frieze a unique gateway to the region”.
Frieze Abu Dhabi will be held, like Abu Dhabi Art, in Manarat Al Saadiyat, the exhibition and event venue within the Saadiyat Cultural District, and Dyala Nusseibeh will remain as the fair’s director. Deutsche Bank, Frieze’s longtime sponsor, will likewise partner on this fair. The German bank has recently deepened its presence in the emirate, whose financial services sector is growing.
DCT will have a presence at this year’s Frieze London, which opens next week (15-19 October), with a lounge to showcase DCT projects and work by Lamya Gargash, an Emirati artist who was first to represent the UAE at the Venice Biennale in 2009.
